GSWS101 Flashcards
Brazen femme
In your face, unapologetic
Split britches
Exaggerating gender norms.
Think CAMP
What does case say about normative gender?
It is a realist work of art, it is a realist performance
What is “Butch Femme”
A CAMP kind of performance.
Think brazen, exaggerated
While it originates as a dynamic duo, it has been played with lots of different roles and performances.
A polluting person
Someone that steps out of gender norms
The story of Anges
Was a MTF trans who took mothers estrogen in order to get a sex change.
Starvation economy
Panic, jealousy, ownership, defining self through having another person
Polyamory
Being romantically involved withore than one person
Serial monogamy
The conventional monogamous marriage
Mainstream drag vs. Terrorist drag
Mainstream is sparkley, glamorous and fun while terrorist was meant to scare you, make you think. Often taken to another level.
DisIdentification
Deliberately performing in order to cope and re-appropriate what the normative society is saying
Terrorist Drag
Does try to “pass” as the opposite gender.
Challenges the gender binary
Misrecognition
Purposely taking things that are recognized as normative and doing the opposite (where the absurdity is recognizable)
Organic intellect
An intellectual without the need for academics. Through actions and things such as zines, artistic performances and intellectual perspectives.
Counter identification
Taking something and performing the opposite.
Interiorized passing
Embodying the headspace but not the physical space.
Social body
The embodiment of where we perform our gender and sexuality. When we perform our gender, it is our social body doing the performing
Zine
Short documents (about 29 pages) mostly used in activist circles
Pastiche
using art to imitate. Can be linked to parody, related to camp.
Hermeneutic
Using disidentification to come out it w space in the hardcore scene
Intersectionality
Late 70s, early 80s, feminists were looking at all issues the same. A gay woman’s experience is not the same as a transgenders etc.
Social blocks
Social groups segregated depending on race, views, sexuality etc.
Davis experiences the world as a woman, she does not conform to any of the norms within her social blocks. (Munoz)
How can the cyborg help us overcome oppression?
Joins with other cyborgs through affinity, not identity. Affiinty speaks to feelings of empathy and those feelings can change normative ideals and “othering” which can help us overcome oppression.
What is a cyborg?
A cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction
No innocent original story, never unified or whole.
Neither human nor machine, neither human nor animal
Joins with other cyborgs through routes of affinity, not identity
Haraway’s conception of animal/human and human/machine relationships
Blurred borders between man/machine
- technologies
- though we have animal instincts we are evolving past our human biological nature.
Haraway and feminism
Because different genres of feminism contradict each other, they work against each other.
Just like the cyborg is “unnatural” without boundaries, humans are and need to be able to question those boundaries
Explain dualism
Haraway
Mind and body are two separate entities.
Descartes identifies the mind with consciousness and self awareness while the brain (body) is intelligence.
Haraway speaks of dualism relating to man/machine. Though two separate things they are strongly related.
Why are transgender people disproportionately represented in the prison population?
“It’s war in here” - SRLP report
Common to be imprisoned because they are forced to commit crimes due to lack of support from society.
Sex work is common amongst trans;
Bills for surgery need to be paid. Who is going to hire a trans man/women? Dismissed by society. Misunderstood. Find a place of understanding with other trans who tend to be into crime related ways of making money. Kicked out of their homes at a young age. Systemic discrimination, intersectionality, Disidentification
Spade “mutilating gender”
The story of anges: took mothers estrogen pills to fool the system into thinking she was born with a penis by accident. Succeeded in getting a sex change even though it was illegal at the time unless you proved you were born with both female and male parts.
Later on, one wld have to “pass” as a transgender in order to get a sex change. Various stereotypes were used to determine your “true sex” goes completely against the gender spectrum. Gender is not one or the other.
Kipnis “how to look at pornography”
Exposed the culture to itself. Democratic, resonates with judgments of social class and taste. It forces us to face our true desires, we are all sick minded and afraid to admit it. Our lives revolve around sex and society tries to tell us that it is low or ugly. By opening our minds to all kinds of bodies porn becomes a good thing
Halberstam “an intro to female masculinity”
The world suggest that if we are not male, we are female. And visa versa
This makes it impossible to truly identify ourselves
Gender is a spectrum
Masculinity is only defined by comparison.
A white, middle class, make body is not recognized as masculine because it is the norm. While masculinity on a female is brazen.
Bordo “unbearable weight”
Dieting and chosen pain/body denial is done in the same way as “mortifying the flesh” (making the body matter less) Now it’s done to make the body matter more. Exercise.
Our emphasis on attain a tight body reflects our cultural anxieties about our bodies borders
Most of us find happiness through following norms, we are threatened by ones ability to be happy without doing this. We accept fat ppl through pity, assuming they can’t be happy.
Hyper self discipline is a cultural norm.
Slenderness is a value system infused with gender norms, class, race
We link body size to other traits.
What is the web that transgenders are caught in? How do they affect each other?
Prison > lack of opportunities > poverty > racial oppression > extra targeting by cultural authorities > transphobia/homophobia > lack of support system > prison
One of these struggles reinforces the others.
Case “towards a butch-femme aesthetic”
Butch femme is a dynamic duo. Shows gender is an act (preformed) through their shared exaggeration of gender norms, interaction and collaboration
There are two ways to do art. Realism and camp. Normative gender is a realist work of art while butch femme is a camp kind of work
SRLP
Started in 2002
African Americans make up 12.3% of national population and 43% of prison population. White: 69.3%; 37%
SRLP recommends adopting measures that will reduce the criminalization and imprisonment of transgender in recognition of the extreme danger this population faces while imprisoned
Make concrete changes to correctional policies to improve safety
Improve and Enhance grievance procedures and accountability measures to address assault, discrimination and abuse
Ensure access to adequate medical and mental health, gender appropriate clothing.
Haraway “a cyborg manifesto”
We glamorize birth even though it’s full of blood and pain (need for technology)
Tools of technology become a part of our body, our existence. We live beyond natural capacity. We need technology.
Convection to social class; people without access to technology norms are considered “less human”
We think of emotion as biological. But feelings exist according to interpretation and social norms. Emotions are learned (technology) from conventions ( think ethical slut and jealousy)
Liberal feminism
Focuses on the individual. It is the idea that individual can overcome their oppressions by asserting and maintaining equality through their own actions and choices
Socialist feminism
Focussed on private and public spheres of women’s lives. Equality can only be achieved through tackling social and economic sources of oppression
Marxist feminism
Assert that women’s oppression comes from capitalist systems. If we abolish capitalism we will have equality.
Radical feminism
Getting to the root of women’s oppression. They argue that this root is patriarchy. Our entire system is based on patriarchal relations. In order to eliminate oppression we need to radically reorganize our society.
